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A STUDY OF OUT-OF-SCHOOL CHILDREN
IN
RIVERS STATE
By
ARBITRAGE CONSULT LTD
For
Rivers State Ministry of Education

2. ii
Content
Title page i
Table of contents ii
List of tables iii
List of figures iv
Executive Summary v
1. Introduction and the Problem 1
 Aim & Objectives 6
2. Conceptual Issues and Review of Country Experience 8
3. Methodology 16
Data Collection 16
Data Analysis 20
4. Prevalence of Out-of-School Children in Rivers State 21
Overview 21
Enrolment Level 22
Dropout 23
Summary 33
5. Characteristics of Out-of-School Children 34
Introduction 34
Schooling Characteristics 34
Not-enrolled 34
Dropout 36
Pattern of Dropout 36
Socio-Economic Characteristics of Out-of-School Children 41
Summary 56
6. Determinants of Out-of-School 59
Focal Group Discussion Results 70
7. Strategies for Tackling Out-of-School Phenomenon 72
8. Summary, Conclusion and Recommendation 80
9. References 85

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List of Table
3.1 Sampling frame and sizes 20
4.1 Distribution of Population of children of school age (6-19)
by age group and schooling status 22
4.2 Enrolment and Dropout Rate by Class and Gender 2012 24
4.3 Public and Private Pre-Primary Enrolment by LGA 2011/2012
26
4.4 Public and Private Primary Enrolment by LGA 2011/2012 28
4.5 Public and Private Junior Secondary School Enrolment by
LGA 2011/2012 28
4.6 Public and Private Senior Secondary School Enrolment by
LGA 2011/2012 31
5.1 Schooling Characteristics children of school age engaged in
street hawkers and child labour in Rivers State 35
5.2 Level in which children dropped out
37
5.3 Dropout Pattern 38
5.4 Age Distribution 41
5.5 Gender Distribution 43
5.6 Marital Status and Teenage Pregnancy 46
5.7 Status of Parents 46
5.8 Distribution by State of Origin 51
5.9 Occupation of Parent 53
5.10 Occupation of parents by LGA 54
5.11 Major Occupation of Out-of-School children 55
6.1 Reason for Dropping Out-of-School 60
7.1 Strategies for Encouraging Enrolment 69
7.2 Strategies for Tackling School Dropout 71

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List of Figures
1.1 Grade specific dropout rates in primary school, selected countries 2007 12
4.1 Distribution of Population of Children of School age 23
4.2a Enrolment Rate by Class and Gender 2012 25
4.2b Dropout Rate by Class and Gender 2012 25
4.3 Public and Private Preprimary Enrolment by LGA 2011/2012 27
4.4 – do – Primary 30
4.5 – do – junior secondary school 30
4.6 – do – senior secondary school 32
5.1 Schooling Characteristics children of school age engaged in
street hawkers and child labour in Rivers State 36
5.2 Summation of the Level in which children dropped out 38
5.3 Trend in the Pattern of dropout 39
5.4 Age Distribution by LGA 42
5.5 Gender Distribution by LGA 45
5.6 Marital and Teenage Pregnancy 47
5.7 Status of Parents 49
5.8 Distribution by State of Origin 52
5.9 Occupation of Parents 53
5.10 Occupation of the children 56
6.1 Reason for Dropping Out-of-School 60
7.1 Strategies for Encouraging Enrolment 70
7.2 Strategies for Tackling School Dropout 72

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Executive Summary
The study examined the phenomenon of out-of-school children in Rivers State
using secondary data from the Rivers State Ministry of Education and primary
data from the 14 Local Government Areas [LGAs] of the State. The main
objectives included to examine the prevalence and social-economic characteristics
of out-of-school children in the State and to examine the determinants of the
phenomenon and to proffer strategies for tackling the problem.
Simple percentages were used to analyze data.
Conceptualization
Out of school children was defined by UNESCO (2010) as:
 Children who attended school in the past but who are no longer in school.
 Children who have not yet been in school but will enter school in future.
 Children who have not yet been in school and will never enter school.
Data
Data on school enrolment and dropout of school children in the state for 2012
were collected from the State Ministry of Education, Port Harcourt. Information
on the reasons for non-enrolment and dropout were collected from sampling the
opinion of parents who had children that are out-of-school and from children of
school age who were engaged in street hawking, apprentices (in hair salons,
mechanic villages), motor parks (touts, bus conductors, vulcanizers, etc) sales
boys/girls at corner shops and markets. The questionnaires were open-ended.
These data were analyzed using simple percentages, charts and diagrams.
A total of 3097 households/parents were sampled across the purposively selected
14 LGAs in the state while a total of 777 children of school age who were engaged
in different forms of child labour were sampled using the purposive sampling
method. 706 responses were in usable form. Information on the socio-economic
characteristics of the out-of-school children were collected as well as information
on their schooling characteristics including reasons why they did not enroll or

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dropped out of school. The household survey focused on parents. Parents were
asked for the reasons for the non-enrolment and/or withdrawal of their
children/wards from school.
Results and Findings
A total of 423,738 children were enrolled in primary and secondary schools in
Rivers State in 2011/2012 with more girls [215,138] enrolled than boys [207,600].
Of the total enrolment 8648 or 2.05% dropped out. The study showed that more
girls [2.06%] dropped out of school than the boys [2.04%] that year. This trend
could be blamed on teenage pregnancy and early marriage which was quite high in
the state.
The study found that for all the levels, enrolment was highest in primary 1. This
implies that there was an increase in enrolment which may have been due to mass
mobilization, sensitization and enrolment campaigns in addition to various
advocacy visits and the latest development in the education sector in Rivers State
– new school building, free books, free uniforms, etc.
Beyond the data on school enrollment and dropout from the State Ministry of
Education, primary data were collected from street children that were engaged in
street hawking, those involved in selling in the markets, motor parks, corner shops
as well as apprentices and sales boys/girls in hair dressing saloon, “mechanic
village” as well as house helps. A total of 706 these class of children were
sampled. The study found that 68.4% of sampled children were out of school.
Using the UNESCO [2011] classification of out-of-school children, the study
classified the children accordingly:
 Attended in the past but not now [dropout]: 83.44%
 Not Enrolled but may enroll later: 3.39%
 May Never Enroll: 3.31%
However there is another category, from this study:
 Undecided whether they will enroll or not: 9.11%

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This classification across the LGAs was also noted in the study.
UNESCO [2011] identified three patterns of drop out in the primary school.
Type I: high number of dropouts at the early grades
Type II: high number of dropouts at the later grades
Type III: high number of dropouts at the early and later grades
The study examined the pattern of dropout in the primary schools in the State. It
observed that in general that there was a progressive rise in the number of
dropouts as the children moved from primary 1 – 6 and though junior secondary to
senior secondary. The study thus concluded that the general dropout pattern in
Rivers State is the Type II as more dropouts occurred in the later years of the
primary school. In addition, the rate was highest towards the terminal year of each
level. The patterns varied mainly between Type I and Type II across the LGAs.
The summary of the classification for the 3 different school levels and LGAs is
shown in the Box below.
1. Primary School: Type I pattern occurred in 8 LGAs out of 14
2. Junior Secondary: Type II pattern occurred in 20 LGAs
3. Senior Secondary: Type III pattern occurred in 5 LGAs
Unclassifiable pattern: 8 LGAs
The socio-economic characteristics of these children revealed that 87.96% of them
were aged between 9 and 18 years old with an almost balanced gender distribution
[55.67% boys and 44.33% girls]; 3.88% were married probably as a result of
teenage pregnancy [14.7%] and early marriage that was prevalent in the state
especially in the riverine LGAs. Along this same line of thought 14.0% of the
children had at least one child. The study also found out that 31.61% and 26.14%
of the children had lost father and mother respectively.

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The study also revealed that the out-of-school children in Rivers State migrated
from 28 states of the federation including the host State Rivers and FCT.
Specifically, almost two-thirds [65%] of the children hailed from Rivers State
while some others migrated from the neighboring states of: Abia [8.0%], Akwa
Ibom [7.5%] and Imo [6.67%], as well as from Ebonyi [2.94%], Cross River
[2.94], Delta [2.28%], and Osun [1.96%] States. Zamfara Bayelsa, Enugu and
Anambra States accounted for more than 1% each while the other 16 states
contributed less than 0.5% each.
Most of the children were engaged in hawking along major roads in the major
cities especially in the urban LGAs as well as trading in markets and shops.
Almost all the parents (81.51%) of the out-of-school children were self-employed
of course, in subsistence farming and other menial jobs e.g. artisans, drivers, etc.
With regards to children who dropped out of school, about 6 percent of children of
school age fell within this category. This incidence was highest in Ahoada East
LGA.
Poverty (Affordability or access to education) was the most important determinant
of school dropout and non-enrolment of the children in school. Other determinants
include distance to school and lack of interest in schooling.
Major determinants of school dropout included; poverty, teenage pregnancy and
early marriage, lack of interest in schooling, poor performance in school work and
quality and quantity of teacher.
Conclusion
School dropout has been on the increase globally but progress on reducing dropout
has not been encouraging. Unless the war against school drop is won significantly,
the goal of Universal Primary Education (UPE) and the objectives of Universal
Basic Education (UBE) may never be achieved. There is the need to first of all
understand the factors that determine school dropout; factors which have been

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classified into three – the home, the school and the environment. According to
UNESCO (2011) this is the first step in designing policies to tackle the problem.
The state government is also intensifying efforts at improving capacity in its
educational system. This it has done by rebuilding/modifying the existing schools.
Providing free books, free uniforms, etc., the massive employment of qualified
teachers and giving the existing ones a time frame to upgrade their qualifications
in line with the minimum standards for basic education in the country. The impact
of these new policies can be ascertained from the increased enrolment in the
schools between SS2 and Primary 1.
The above successes notwithstanding, a lot still needs to be done especially in the
area of policy implementation; this is particularly with a view to ensuring that free
education is actually free especially in the rural areas.
Recommendations
1. General
Considering the fact that there is dearth of information on dropout of school, the
state in collaboration with relevant stakeholders should carry out a comprehensive
census of all schools that give basic education (primary and junior secondary)
outside the public schools. The state could as matter of urgency develop a
comprehensive data bank on out-of-school children in the state. To this end
government should make it mandatory for the various agencies of government
concerned with education – the Ministry of Education, State Universal Basic
Education Commission, State Schools Board etc, to collect on an annual basis,
data on enrolment and withdrawal (dropout) in all schools offering basic
education. It may be necessary to stress that special emphasis should be on private
schools (formal and informal, registered and unregistered). This a major step
towards developing a comprehensive data bank on out-of-school children in the
state. The use of a consultant may be advised for obvious reasons.

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2. Government
There should be concerted efforts by government to enforce the objectives of the
UBE especially that on FREE and COMPULSORY education at both primary and
secondary levels. One way to achieve this is to proscribe the collection of any fees
or levies especially in the rural areas and ensure that all provided school materials
– uniform, sandals, books, etc. get to the final end users – the school children.
Government should regularly carry out social mobilization, massive public and
enlightenment campaign; organize seminars and workshops on the importance of
education as many parents and children especially in the rural areas are ignorant of
the importance of education.
Government should by whatever means give assurance that employment would be
available for school leavers [university graduates] when they finish school.
Government should also build more schools in addition to the renovation works
going on in the State to modernize, furnish and equipped schools that are centrally
located, especially in the rural areas.
All schools should be provided with sporting and health facilities and services.
Introduction of Early Child Development Centres (Nursery) in public schools in
public schools as well as introduce boarding in school (secondary) will be added
advantage.

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School children could be served lunch and given little pocket money daily. A
specifically designed conditional cash transfer scheme could be introduced with
this objective in mind
Provide free school bus where schools are far and in between.
Introduce moral education in schools
Enforce the law against child labour
Introduce evening school (extra-mural classes) in all LGAs for children who
cannot go back to regular schools due to age as well as those who would not like
to quit their business.
Institute a body to cater for orphans,
3.0 Teacher
Improve quality and quantity of teacher as is currently being done
Employ qualified teachers as Government seems to be doing now.
4.0 Parents
As stipulated by the UBEC, all children of school age must be enrolled in school
by their parents. This must be enforced. Parent should be encouraged to enroll
their children in school once they come of age
Parents should monitor their children and the type of friends they keep. The
parents should be encouraged to counsel and encourage the children, reward those
that excel and serve as role models as well as being more responsive.

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Parents should be encouraged to stop gender discrimination as far as educating the
girl child is concerned.
5.0 School Management
The school management should stop the collection of illegal fees/levies from the
students/pupils.
School management should check social vices e.g. cultism
The PTA should be strengthened while a new body Students / Teachers Forum
should be introduced in all schools.